Mayor Mike Savage: Driving national success through local government
Canadian politics is famous for its family connections. Names like Trudeau, Mulroney, and Layton have connections across the political spectrum. The name Savage could certainly be part of that list.
Mike Savage is the three-term mayor of the Halifax Regional Municipality. Prior to his election as Mayor, Mike Savage served three terms as Member of Parliament for Dartmouth-Cole Harbour. His father, John Savage, served as mayor of Dartmouth and premier of Nova Scotia.
Passion for Local Government
Mayor Savage does have varied political experience, but he is quick to point out the order of government he has enjoyed the most.
“Being a mayor is a job that suits me better than any other job that I’ve had in the private sector or in politics,” he said. “I like the – you could either call it non-partisan or probably, more correctly, multi-partisan – nature of the work. I like the general challenging nature. I enjoy it very much.”
The workload that comes at city hall is something Mayor Savage admits he didn’t expect. He didn’t imagine just how many people want the mayor at their events. He didn’t anticipate how many people want the mayor’s opinion on things that may seem innocuous or not connected to municipal government. He may have felt like he was busy as an MP, but the workload expanded a lot in becoming mayor.
Of course, he doesn’t have to spend 36 weeks a year in Ottawa. And that does free up a good bit of time.
Big City Mayors Success Stories
Sure, his workload as mayor is intense, but that hasn’t stopped Mayor Savage from adding to it. Back in May, he was named chair of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Big City Mayors’ Caucus. His peers picked him to replace Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson, who had announced his pending retirement.
The caucus brings together representatives from 22 of Canada’s biggest cities. The group serves as a forum for policy development. Its scope reaches a range of issues affecting the country’s largest municipalities.
Mayor Savage admits he had never heard of the caucus before his election as mayor. But since becoming involved with it, he has found it to be one of the most enjoyable aspects of being a mayor. It has also been one of the most challenging aspects as well.
The mayor has quite enjoyed working with his big city colleagues. But what they have all accomplished, he adds, has been much more important.
“I think that the Big City Mayors have had a big impact. We represent an awful lot of the constituencies in Canada. While some of it is certainly selfish from the point of view of we’re looking for money, we’ve also advocated on issues. Things like anti-hate, very important discussions around First Nations and Indigenous Truth and Reconciliation. We’ve had an impact from an advocacy point of view. The government has paid attention.”
Satisfaction in Halifax’s Success
Mayor Savage’s political career has without a doubt been a lengthy and successful one. But it is by no means nearing an end. Still, when pressed, he does acknowledge some of his major career accomplishments.
As one might expect, he is quite proud of what Halifax has been able to achieve. Already one of the fastest growing cities in the country, Mayor Savage said that five or six years ago, nobody thought of Halifax as a tech hub. Today, Halifax is one of the top tech hubs in the country.
The mayor adds he has always believed Halifax had the potential to be an economic engine. But it hasn’t always maximized that potential. That is, until recently – which he is rather excited about. Driving that success, he explains, has been immigration, diversity, and inclusion. And they have led to greater success for everyone in the Halifax region.
“It’s recognizing that being a really great city, we can provide more opportunity for more people. Those things excite me,” the mayor said. “They’re obviously not things that are created by a mayor, but in some ways they’re enabled by civic government, and encourage people to reach higher.”
Local Government Achievements
Given his own experience, Mayor Savage has seen first-hand how the different orders of government operate. And having seen how they all work, he is quick to laud the importance of local government in people’s lives.
This is especially true given the evolution of local government. Cities, the mayor said, are driving change in the world. He has seen that through the Big City Mayors’ Caucus. He has also seen it through his experiences with the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative – or, as he refers to it, mayor’s school.
Mayor Savage said cities have always been that order of government closest to the people. But more and more, local governments are achieving success in areas people haven’t seen as being the purview of cities.
Environment, human rights, economic growth, and immigration are all issues cities are active on. A case in point is climate change. Mayor Savage uses the example of former U.S. President Donald Trump pulling out of The Paris Agreement. Cities stepped forward to say that they refused to give up the fight for the environment. Then there were people challenging the importance of immigration. It was mayors who often stood up and said it was an issue of importance to citizens everywhere.
When it comes to Canada, Mayor Savage looks to his caucus colleagues. Figures such as Iveson, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman, Toronto Mayor John Tory – and many other local government leaders – have led the charge on key issues.
“Whether it’s Black Lives Matter, Indigenous issues, the recognition of the importance of Truth and Reconciliation, I think cities are leading that,” he said. “In Halifax, for example, we have a program called HalifACT, which is our plan on climate change. It’s as impressive as anything I’ve seen. So cities are stepping up and taking a leadership role.”
Personal Leadership Perspective
Leadership, both personal and professional, is something Mayor Savage focuses on.
Over the years, many people have come to him for advice on getting into politics. His answer is always for people to follow their instincts. Don’t try to be something that doesn’t make sense to you only for the sake of getting elected. It will always catch up to you.
The mayor acknowledged that people can follow their instincts and still fail. But at least they will fail on something that matters to them.
Commitment to Doing Better
Mayor Savage looks to people such as Iveson, Nenshi, Bowman, and Tory who have an understanding that the future must be better than what Mayor Savage calls “our imperfect past.” In Halifax, that means strengthening the relationship with the Mi’kmaq.
These discussions also touch on housing and anti-hate, which the caucus recently passed a resolution on efforts to confront systemic discrimination.
These are the types of topics, Mayor Savage said, that need constant discussion and action.
“We all need to focus on making our communities more diverse and inclusive. And recognizing that we have to push back when we see actions in our communities that mitigate against that,” he said. “I think that there’s a very strong social belief that we believe in Canada, and the potential of Canada. But there’s a lot of things that we need to do better.” MW
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Sean Meyer is Senior Content Editor for Municipal World.
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